Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Just Keep Screwing That Chicken, Fellas

There was a poll about Hillary Clinton's biggest weakness going into 2016. The headlines say it was Benghazi at 15%.

Actually it was "Nothing" at 18%.

The National Journal, staid mouthpiece of the DC status quo, inevitably concern trolls the Democrats that they ignore Benghazi at their peril. Toppling Qaddafi is one of the perceived strong points on her resume. I guess. But the idea is that they will use the same old Karl Rove playbook of attacking a candidate's strengths until it becomes a weakness. The word for this is "swiftboating".

The real worry is that Hillary Clinton somehow did not learn from her sclerotic campaign of 2008 and will create yet again a top-heavy, consultant driven campaign that plays it safe. And if she does that, then possibly the GOP constantly harping on Benghazi could leave a mark.

But I think Clinton has a tremendous opportunity to turn the tables on them. "How dare they drag the dead bodies of fine American civil servants - including a man I know and trusted who served this country well for years - how dare they drag them into the public square for cheap political purposes. Have you no shame?"

A vestige of our Victorian morals is the idea that women are more moral than men. More compassionate.

THAT should be Hillary Clinton's calling card. It will defuse the sense that she is too cold, too calculating and create that empathetic bridge to female voters than could tilt the electoral map in wonderful new directions.